Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Gas Prices

Since the issue seems to be back in the news again, here's a link to the White House Infographic on Gas Prices. And here's a screenshot of the main point: the gasoline prices are linked to the price of oil, and demand for oil is increasing world wide:

This is true - but what's wrong with this picture? It neglects a baseline - that the US has already had its huge runup in oil consumption. This fact does come in later down in the infographic - the US uses 20% of the world's oil consumption. The White House uses this latter fact to justify an "we need an all-of-the-above approach" argument. Personally, I think we need to cut consumption. Any thoughts, about the substance or the representation? Send a comment!